Lying in state

Lying in state is the tradition in which the body of a dead official is placed in a state building, either outside or inside a coffin, to allow the public to pay their respects. It traditionally takes place in the principal government building of a country or city. While the practice differs among countries, a viewing in a location other than the principal government building may be referred to as lying in repose.[1]

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Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected president to lie in state in South Africa.[citation needed] The event took place at the Union Buildings the same site where he was inaugurated as the President of South Africa on May 10, 1994. The body of Mandela was lying in State for three days starting on Wednesday the 11th of December 2013 and ending on Friday the 13th of December 2013. The body was viewed by thousands of South Africans before it was airlifted to Qunu in the Eastern Cape where Mandela was laid to rest on the 15th of December 2013.

Provinces may also mount state funerals, and have a lying in state for a distinguished former resident. For instance, Maurice Richard was given a state funeral by the province of Quebec when he died in 2000; his coffin lay in state at the Molson Centre.[2] This process was repeated for fellow Canadiens legend Jean Béliveau in December 2014.

For municipalities, civic funerals maybe offered to prominent current or former politicians who have died.

In North Korea, the body of the late leader Kim Jong-il was displayed in a glass coffin surrounded with red flowers at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang prior to his funeral which began and ended at the palace. An honor guard armed with an AK-47 was present. Kim Jong-il's father Kim Il-Sung, the founding president, is on display elsewhere in the palace.[3]

For the lying in state at the House of the Unions, the coffin would be placed on display in the Column Hall, which would be decorated by flowers, numerous red flags and other communist symbols. The mourners, which usually would be brought in by the thousands, shuffled up a marble staircase beneath chandeliers draped in black gauze. On the stage at the left side of the Column Hall a full orchestra in black tailcoats would play classical music. The deceased's embalmed body, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and a tie, would be displayed in an open coffin on a catafalque banked with carnations, red roses and tulips, facing the long queue of mourners. A small guard of honour would be in attendance in the background. At the right side of the hall there would be placed seats for guests of honour, with the front row reserved for the dead leader's family.

On the day of the funeral, a military funeral parade would take place during which the coffin would be conveyed from the House of the Unions to the Red Square where burial would take place. Lenin and Stalin were placed inside the Lenin Mausoleum while Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko were interred in individual graves in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis along the Kremlin wall.

At state funerals in Singapore, the national flag is put on the coffin. The vigil guard may be deployed during the public lying in state of the deceased person at Parliament House. The deployment of the vigil guard is the highest form of respect accorded by the nation to the deceased. Similar to British traditions, the vigil guard is composed of groups of five commissioned officers from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and Singapore Police Force (SPF) who stand guard around the clock in shifts of 30 minutes. One of the five officers stands facing outward at each of the four corners of the casket, while the fifth and most senior one stands in front and faces inward. Their heads are bowed and their ceremonial swords are inverted.[4]

Each unit mans the guard for a total of six hours, with each detachment standing post for twenty minutes. The four men stand at each corner with heads bowed and weapons inverted and their backs are turned towards the coffin.

Richard Nixon and members of Congress honor Lyndon B. Johnson who lay in state in the Capitol rotunda on January 24, 1973.

The U.S. Joint Service Color Guard and members of Congress honor Ronald Reagan who lay in state in the Capitol rotunda on June 10, 2004.

Dick Cheney and members of Congress honor Gerald Ford who lay in state in the Capitol rotunda on December 30, 2006.

For most federal officeholders, lying in state is the rare honor granted by the United States to a deceased official wherein his or her remains are placed in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., for public viewing. The casket is guarded by members of the armed forces. By regulation and custom, only Presidents, military commanders, and members of Congress are granted the honor of lying in state. Except for Presidents and former Presidents, the honor is not automatic. Not all those entitled to the honor accept it, however. The first leader to receive this honor was former Speaker of the House of RepresentativesHenry Clay when he died in 1852. Since then, the honor has been extended to thirty-one people, including eleven Presidents.

The process of lying in state at the Capitol is as follows. The coffin or casket is usually placed on a catafalque, usually the Lincoln catafalque, so named as it was constructed upon the death of Abraham Lincoln, from when he lay in state following his assassination in 1865. The casket is guarded at each of its corners by servicemen from each of the branches of the armed forces for its duration at the Capitol. In contrast to the practice in the United Kingdom and other countries of the Commonwealth, guards at the Capitol face the casket, hold their rifles with their right hand, and keep the rifle butt resting on the floor. After the viewing and ceremony at the Capitol, the remains are taken to the burial location.

The United States Congress has created a similar—though not identical—privilege for distinguished Americans who do not qualify for a lying in state designation. The process of lying in honor is very similar to that of lying in state with the exception that the honor guard in the Rotunda is provided by the Capitol Police or another suitable source.

In 1998, Russell Eugene Weston Jr. stormed the Capitol and shot and killed Chestnut and Gibson. In response, Congress provided for their remains to lie in honor in the Rotunda. Chestnut was the first African-American to lie in honor. In 2005, upon the death of civil rights activist Rosa Parks, Congress permitted her remains to lie in honor at the Rotunda as well; Parks became the second African-American and the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has a tradition of mummifying the deceased pope and placing his body on his throne to enable the church followers to have a farewell look at him for a short period of time. This tradition is one of the ways ancient Egyptian rituals survived in the Egyptian church. [13]